Blood, Flesh and Bone
by Carlowrie
Summary: As the Old Ones prepare to leave the Warhammer World before the coming of Chaos, they set in place the motions of a plan to prepare for their eventual return.
1. chapter 1

"You see now how it must be done?" A clear melodic voice sounded out.

I bowed my head. His lordship had placed the last of the ogham stones into place. This was by far the largest of the oghams in all of Albion even the Lonely Ogben to the north was dwarfed by these stones. I was the youngest of the Truthsayers of Albion and the speaker was one of the ancient spirits that had modelled the first people of Albion from clay and breathed life into our forms. He appeared to me as a handsome man, with hair like flowing fire thick about his head but a beard greyed falsely by an unknown age. He turned to look at my humble bowed kneeling form.

He chuckled. "Of all our children, you Truthsayers are perhaps my favourite." A frown passed across his face and he sighed. "Alas, my kith and kin shall be leaving you soon." I shivered, his sadness touching my soul, pulling at the magical senses therein.

We turned to walk towards Mudwalls, the largest settlement in Albion, south of the high hills of Aeryn. I had been born in Mudwalls, Mother was especially proud to have a Truthsayer for a son. As the name suggested, the settlement was surrounded entirely by a thick and tall mud wall but within the town, many of the buildings were built with roughly hewn stones. Beautiful thatch roofs were visible over the mudwall even from this far down the road. If we had turned to the east it would have been only a day's walk to the fishing village of Gwron on the east coast of Albion. She was not a very large country, but beautiful nonetheless. The Beast Peaks to the north, past Aeryn, were some of my favourite places to walk. On their far side, there were the dazzling lochs of the Hunnaidh.

"You will be leaving soon my lordship?"

"Indeed, young one. There comes a great darkness soon, a storm brewing beyond even the stars. It would not be wise for my blood to stay here much longer." He looked up to the skies as if looking for this coming storm. He shook his head. "Nay, there are a few things left to be done." He stopped and turned me in his large hands. "And you are of great importance to my plans, at least so I should think."

"You do not know?"

"Prophecy is always a fickle thing, even for a race as old and experienced as mine. This will be the last night you spend in Mudwalls, however. And the last moon that you spend in my company. Of this, I am rather sure. I have taught you more than I ever thought I could, you Truthsayers have taken on more knowledge than my kith and kin believed you to be capable of. I am glad you have outperformed our estimations. In fact whilst teaching you, I myself have learnt as well. No matter how old you may be, there is always something that you can learn from a younger mind." He nodded slightly, as if he had not been talking to me, but rather to himself.

We arrived at Mudwalls shortly thereafter. Other ancient spirits were awaiting us. "Lord Obmus! Have you finished making the last ogham?" His lordship nodded and continued into the settlement. "Lord Obmus! We will start the ritual tonight, shall you participate or will we expect you with the dawn?" His lordship looked down at me. "Let us talk more privately." He waved a hand to indicate that I should carry on without him.

That night it was difficult to sleep. The ground beneath me shuddered and groaned. Sometimes it was so loud I thought that I could hear words. At other times it was so violent my body was thrown from the bed. When dawn came, his lordship was stood by my door. I stepped out into the newly born light and saw that the mudwall had collapsed in places and huge men were at work fixing it. Whole trees were being carried through the settlement and a house worth of mud was balled between some of their hands. "These are the Itar." His lordship spoke softly. "They are guardians that we have chosen to leave upon Albion that when darkness presses upon your shores, they may drive that darkness back into the sea."

I nodded, barely listening as I gaped at the huge men. "Come now, there are important tasks for you. Your brothers and sisters in magic have been taken elsewhere to learn their tasks. They shall stay on Albion with the Itar to defend her and the Oghams." As he spoke clouds began to thicken in the sky. We went back to the Ogham that we had finished the day before. There I saw half a dozen Itar sat together. "Your task shall be to travel across the sea and build oghams were you find yourself. But these oghams will be defaced over the centuries, perhaps even the millennia and they will weaken. Over time the darkness will grow stronger and bolder. It will ensorcel the hearts of those children of my kith and kin. Indeed even Truthsayers will be tempted by the darkness. As you travel the world building the oghams where you can, you must do battle against this darkness. You must learn from the other children of this world all that you can, all that I have not had the time to teach you yet."

"But why me my lordship? Surely one of the elder, more skilled Truthsayers should take charge of this task. How could I alone do battle against a darkness so fearsome even the ancient spirits chose to flee it?"

A hand rested on my shoulder. "Have courage young one. You shall not be alone, and there is time yet before the darkness comes. I shall sail with you and these Itar are charged with your protection. But first, it has been agreed that we shall leave behind us some warriors with the breath of our life within them. Surely without it then no matter the nobleness of their hearts then none could truly drive back the darkness. As for why you, I have chosen you for I trust you, and I have spent many a year teaching you the construction of the oghams. There are few others that could do that task." I nodded, fear still deep in my blood. His lordship grinned and opened his mouth wide. Then his lips stretched outwards, such that the whole of his face was swallowed, and this continued until all of his lordship's form was swallowed. I leapt backwards with a short scream.

Where before had stood the familiar and welcoming form of Lord Obmus, now stood some lustrous, small creature, unlike anything I had ever seen, not on the Beast Peaks nor in the depths of the northern lochs. From this creature's mouth came a light blue smoke that struck my face and left me shaking. Dark spots began to fill my vision and a weakness touched my bones. I could feel my legs tremble as I lost my sight completely. I was asleep by the time my body collapsed to the grass beneath me.


	2. Chapter 2

I awoke slowly. There was little light in the room that I woke in and the bed was coarser than the bed at home. I sat up slowly and realised that I was in the nude but for blue woad markings all across my body. I recognised some of the markings for those worn by warriors to battle but others I couldn't be sure of.

The room I was in seemed to be swaying gently, every so often it shifted more suddenly but the bed seemed to resist the movement and kept nearly level. As I looked about the rest of the room I saw a single candle lighting the room weakly and then I focused on the woman laid beside me. I flushed as I realised that she was as dressed as I was. It was easier to read the woad runes on her body but I feared to be found like this when she woke, poring over her body to decipher the markings we now both carried. I wet a finger and rubbed at some of the woad on my chest but it refused to come off. Perhaps it would come off with time. With another glance at my companion, I slipped off of the bed.

We had both been laid over the covers. The room was not particularly large nor decorated. Simple wooden furnishings stood against some of the walls, on further inspection I found clothes within them, they were all slightly smaller than anything I could have worn. I heard a soft groan. The woman was stirring.

I watched as she too sat up slowly. A hand came to her head, which she shook gently. Suddenly her head snapped up to look at me with an odd expression. I took the opportunity to study her better whilst she did the same with me. Her hair was dark black, somewhere between charcoal and raven feathers. Her skin was more tanned than my own, not by much, certainly, but still noticeable. The fishing folk tended to have a shade of skin similar to this from the glare of the sun upon the sea. The woad marring her skin was the same as mine, from its shade to its consistency. She was also slightly smaller which probably meant that the clothes in the room belonged to her. As my gaze travelled upwards to meet her face I was certain that she was beautiful. She held a soft smirk on her face as our eyes met, the colour of her irises reminded me of the trees that grew nearer to Aeryn, only the darkest brown trees grew at such heights, I wondered if she had ever seen those groves before.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, I'm sorry for stealing some of your bed." I gestured to the hardy bed she still sat on. She frowned at me.

"Did we...?" She flushed and looked to the door. Her eyes widened and she leapt from the bed and pulled on some clothes quickly. "Hurry, the ship is on the water with no crew!" She burst out of the room at pace.

I paused, staring at the place where she had vanished for a moment before I processed her words and followed her into the sunlight. The sun's glare blinded me for a moment as I stepped out. Seaspray wet my skin as I looked around for where she had gone.

Looking up at the aftcastle behind me, I saw her talking to his lordship. He was at the helm whilst she was pointing at the wheel with one hand and waving the other wildly. I climbed the staircase beside me to rejoin with them, the six Itar were about the deck close to the rigging, altering the sails and following wordless orders from his lordship.

By the time I had climbed the aftcastle, the woman had the wheel in her hands and his lordship was welcoming me back into the land of the living with warm and dry clothes. I slipped them on gratefully, smirking slightly as the woman looked away from the horizon ahead for a final glimpse before my body was once more stowed away into privacy.

"My lordship? What happened?"

"Did I not tell you that it was decided that we would leave behind some warriors with our breath within them?" He motioned towards the pair of us. "Your task will be one to take many years to complete, I will not be here to decide upon successors should you succumb to age during that time. Do you remember how it is that your people were first formed? From clay, with the breath of life pressed into you?" I nodded in acknowledgement. "Then it shouldn't surprise you so much that the breath of life can be put into your bones more firmly and in greater volume. My kith and kin in the west have certainly granted to many of their children longer lives than those granted to you here in Albion."

"She will take part in this task as well my lordship?"

He nodded. "It was decided that one Truthsayer alone could be too easily tempted towards the darkness." He chuckled at the face I wore. "Do not take offence young one, even my own blood are known to fall to temptation from time to time. Alas, we chose to partner you, where the Itar protect you from bodily harm, you shall protect each other from the whispers of the coming darkness." He nodded, he seemed very certain of this plan. "Have you introduced yourselves?" He looked between us both. We looked down to the deck, I shuffled slightly under his gaze.

"No? Ardri, she is Lira, the daughter of a fisherman and a very skilled Truthsayer. Her time at sea has only strengthened her powers. Her mastery of the skies above, the winds that carry her ship and the storms that threaten to shatter it..." He sighed. "It's a beauty to behold. Much as she is herself." He nodded towards her. She smiled shyly back, a red tinge to her cheeks as she avoided letting her eyes stray from the horizon ahead. "Lira, this is Ardri, the son of a quarrier, and also a very skilled Truthsayer. I have taken a special interest in raising Ardri since he was even younger than he is now. Alas, there are times where his youth has burnt more fiercely than his common sense, but I assure you. There is wisdom in him as well."

His lordship soon left the aftcastle, choosing to go into the darker hold below rather than spend much longer under the harsh open sun. I leant against a railing beside Lira looking out to sea. "His youth burns more fiercely than his common sense." I turned my head to look at her. She stuck out her tongue before punching my shoulder. "Might explain why you spent so long poking me earlier." I blushed.

"You weren't awake, were you?" She grinned at me.

"You are young." Lira looked towards the horizon again. "Don't go doing it again."


	3. Chapter 3

The rugged land ahead was almost entirely built of sharp, ship-shattering cliffs. We had passed several small islands with similar shores. Even from here, the mountain peaks of the mainland were visible with icy trails weaving down them. Lira turned the ship into a fjord that I hadn't been able to see, hidden as it was amongst the rocky sea-edge. We travelled along the clear waters for a day before coming across the hills that lined the finally softening banks of the river. It was here that the ship made landfall, the Itar leapt out into the freezing water and began to haul the ship further onto the bank.

I glanced around quickly, pine trees hid our view of the land around us for the most part. I felt nervous, several tribes of wild men roamed this land. His lordship assured me their weapons were only crude stone and their grip on magic weak. Perhaps even some of these tribes knew not how to make fire. These tribes were closer to Beast than Man, with vague hunting territories rather than fixed settlements. Also, I had watched the moon at night as it's silver light waxed and then turned to wane. His lordship would leave soon, and the Darkness was soon upon us.

Lira and I had spent much of the journey discussing our individual pasts. She had not been taken from her family by the Truthsayers as I had. Instead, she had stayed with her father and mother and taken to the sea since even the week of her birth. She wasn't particularly familiar with his lordship, it had been another Ancient Spirit that had taught her to master the magic within her. She had proven a skilled sailor and masterful fisherwoman, even here in the frozen sea between Albion and the Claw where cold winds blew and the sea spray froze upon shivering skin. She too was nervous about his lordship leaving. Neither of us had ever come to the Claw before.

It was a frozen land of great size, coated in vast forests and marked by glaciers and fjords. Albion could lay upon this land many hundreds of times, his lordship had told them. Along with the wild men of the Claw, there were other mighty and uncivilised creatures, the Wyrms and Drakes were most active amongst them. I had seen one wyrm watching us as we sailed upriver from a lair made of bone high on a mountainside. For all his lordship spoke of vast forests, it was the towering mountains that most entranced me. Light danced across the snow and glittered on the ice as these mountains stretched beyond the clouds. Certainly, they were many times taller than any of the Beast Peaks of Albion.

We sat around the fire that night, the Itar taking turns to stand watch whilst his lordship sang age-old tales of battles long past and primordial gods slumbering under the world. I glanced at the moon, it would be new again tomorrow night. His lordship seemed unmoved by the shortness of the time left before the coming of the Darkness. The singing faded away as the night grew colder. Howling echoed throughout the valleys and the chittering of wild men played with my mind. They sounded close but neither the Itar nor his lordship were at all worried. Perhaps the mountains here made things sound closer than they truly were.

"Ardri?" Lira's hand touched my arm gently. I turned to her. She was shivering slightly, she would never ask for my warmth but I shuffled closer anyway. "Are you alright?" I nodded.

"New moon tomorrow," I whispered, any louder and it might summon the wild men.

She smiled softly and pressed against me very slightly, almost unnoticeably. "I'll protect you from the wild men Ardri." She giggled quietly. I blushed. "And from anything else too." She wore a much more serious face now, or perhaps it was just how the last light of the dying embers cast shadows across her face. Still, there were woad runes marked on her head, even after spending nearly a whole moon at sea neither of our markings had become any fainter or begun to peel away.

"I know." I looked into the embers, unsettled somewhat by the protective look in her eyes. "And I..." A distant roar disturbed me. Likely it was the wyrm from earlier. "I'll protect you too. I promise." She smiled brightly at me after that. It was only an hour or so later that she fell asleep, her head buried in the warmth of my shoulder. She would punch me when she woke for letting her fall asleep like that. Many were the mornings that I awoke to a sore arm after she discovered herself snuggled into my side. Not that I would tell her, but the soreness was well worth the feel of her pressed against my side.

"Young one." His lordship was watching us across the now dead fire. "This will be important to your task, so remember my advice well." I nodded in acknowledgement. "Before the coming of my kith and kin to this world there were peoples here and great powers not so much weaker than my blood is now. When we first came to this world, battle rent it into a cataclysm. Many of the primordial races died in the bloody violence, some did hide from us beneath the seas and the stones. Others yet made pacts with us, some to go into a slumber for many ages and some to wander this world lively and proud and in suiting to our great plans." He stood.

"The primordial gods, great powers to rival our own, fled into dormancy. We have found very few of them and fewer still did we ever arouse from their deep sleep. This land is home to many primordial creatures and perhaps even to their gods. The coming Darkness and these primordial beings may find some unity in hatred for my people, and in their desire to tear apart our great plans, to destroy those children to whom we have given beautiful life. When we leave this world I do think that many of the primordials will awaken, that they will come out from their hiding places. As those who will ensure the success of the great plans, you will have to deal with them. My people chose to deal with them through world-splitting battle. Perhaps we were wrong to do so. However it is that you chose to deal with them, you must not allow the primordial races to make a great union with the coming Darkness. For surely the children my kith and kin have here on this world will not be able to withstand such a terrible union." I nodded slowly, taking in all that I had just learnt.

"Darkness will be upon us soon. I must leave you this night if I am to make my journey to the stars in safety." He turned to leave.

"My lordship! Surely you could stay. Wouldn't it be better for you to preserve your plans yourself? We don't even know your plans. How could we really defeat a Darkness that strikes fear into even the Ancient Spirits?" His lordship smiled, as a wise old man would to a young child that had unknowingly asked a profound question.

"You shall find a way. If I have learnt anything from my time upon Albion, raising my chosen children, it is this. You shall always find a way." His lordship then pressed on Lira's ship with a hand and it took to the river once more. A quick leap and he was aboard, sailing with the current into the distance until a meander in the river hid him behind the aged pines around me.


	4. Chapter 4

We decided that the place we had landed would host our first Ogham. Whilst Lira taught some of the Itar to fish in the river and set to building temporary shelters for the eight of us, I took the rest of the Itar out into the woods looking for suitably large rocks that we could use to make the Ogham. I had told Lira that the average Ogham might take a month and a half to make, what with carving runes into each Ogham stone and putting them in the perfect orientation and place.

The woods were cold, even in the day, and the wild men never seemed far. Many of the larger stones that we might have taken back with us already had crude markings on them. Likely this was the script of the wild men or perhaps something less developed. It must have marked the edges of hunting territories, warning the other clans and tribes of wild men to stay away. I couldn't tell which side of the boundary our camp was in, or even which stones formed which boundaries.

Only in the foothills some three hours walking to the north-west could we find unmarred stones of the right size. It was clear why, as well. There was certainly a lair to some creature nearby, bones lay strewn about the foothills. Some were large, the fallen wreckages of battling wyrms or drakes that had claimed this prosperous hunting ground in the past. Others were the broken forms of wild men, scattered about, some with flesh still rotting on the bones whilst the rest had been scraped clean. Whatever had slain so many lesser creatures it appeared to be dormant. Perhaps it was sleeping off a particularly large kill. I selected three stones to bring back with us that afternoon. Certainly, I would not carve the stones there under the possible eye of a veteran hunter.

The night was upon us quickly. There was nearly an hour's walk left before we'd be back at the camp. Night on the Claw disturbed me, the sounds were different from those on Albion. The night birds did not hoot the same as those I was familiar with and those creatures of the Claw that hunted in the darkness seemed not to worry about being heard. Worst were the wild men, for sure. Their calls rang out, echoing on the mountains and sounding far closer than they had any right to. Their bestial intelligence may not yet have become apparent but I feared that when they inevitably came across us they would be far more dangerous than most animals.

"Ardri!" Lira's voice shouted out into the darkness. She sounded worried, small fires dotted the woods in the distance. One was noticeably lower down than the others. "Ardri!"

I called back to her. "Lira, we're here!" The Itar grunted loudly. They did have a tongue of their own, it was very similar to the druid tongue of Albion with only a few words altered to better suit their stiffer mouths. The weight of the stones they carried was probably too great a burden for them to make the effort of long-distance conversation.

The fires bobbed closer until at last, I could see Lira and the other three Itar. Her relieved face was a warm welcome. The soft punch, slightly less so. I grinned back at her anyway. "You didn't come back before nightfall." She grumbled at me.

"Yeah, I didn't know how far we'd have to go. But at least we know where we can find some more of these now." I waved towards the stones that the Itar were now exchanging.

"There's still some fish waiting for you all at the camp but you'll be sleeping by the fire again. We only finished one shelter and you worried me." She stuck out her tongue.

"Who's shelter is it then?"

"Mine of course! None of the Itar want to have a shelter before us apparently." I nodded, his lordship had said that their sole purpose in life was our wellbeing. It was a fascinating idea, that they might know exactly what their reason of living was from the moment they marched down from the Beast Peaks, in the heart of the night a month ago, until they eventually died. I wondered if they were ageless as the Ancient Spirits were. After the Breath of Life was drawn from our aged and wearied bones would these Itar go on to guard whoever would bear our burden next? His lordship had said that he could not choose a successor himself, would the Itar be our successors, must I teach them to build Oghams as well. Or perhaps it was we who were now ageless and the Itar would lay with one another and birth children. We may have to raise young Itar and watch as generations of Itar lived and died in our service.

After a quick meal of fish cooked over the fire with a few herbs and plants that Lira had recognised from Albion, the Itar and I settled about the fire for the night. Dawn would come in only a few hours and I would begin carving some of the runes as the sun rose.

"Oi!" I looked up from the pile of leaves I was laid on. Lira was stood at the entrance to the first hut. "Get in and off the ground." She turned around and went back into the hut, muttering as she did. I smiled as I entered to find her laid across a simple wooden bed covered in leaves, grinning up at me.


	5. Chapter 5

The temporary village was finished by the end of the week. Some of the Itar slept alone and some less so. It seemed that their relationships were not the same as those that the people of Albion had with one another. The strongest Itar had three females in his shelter, whereas it was very uncommon for a man of Albion to have several wives or for a woman to have several husbands.

The Ogham had progressed well over this time. Already nine stones had been carved and raised. I hoped that this Ogham might have a score of stones before we left. So far the creature that dwelt above the foothills had not paid too much attention to our trips through its territory but I wondered how long it would stay as such a silent observer.

We were eating an early meal, the sun had begun its ascent into the sky and I was planning a journey back to the foothills. However, only two days before I had come across a group of wild men hunters. Neither of us understood the other but they didn't seem too aggressive. Perhaps the presence of the Itar kept them suitably cowed. Nonetheless, Lira was unhappy with me going out again so soon.

She hoped that we might spend the day together finding something that we could use to make clothes. Certainly hide would have been suitable but there were few creatures wandering the woods nearby. Lira wanted us to search for an animal that we could herd with us as we travelled about the world building Oghams. Perhaps there would be some breed of sheep or goats in the Claw.

Whilst we discussed what task to do that day, the winds turned. They became more bitter and cold. The ground shook and the sky turned dark as storms raced south. Great ethereal roars whipped the air into tempests and thunder struck the ground all around us. I looked at Lira in terror, the Darkness was here now. I could feel the raw magic that usually flowed freely in the high winds only coming down when summoned, falling around me, staining the ground. It was a choking feeling as if I might suffocate under the raw magic as it rotted against my skin.

Lira's touch stirred me from my panic and we rushed into our shelter, the Itar doing the same. We stayed there the rest of the day. The sounds from outside the shelter continued for hours but as night began to darken the Claw, the storms seemed calmer and the world had stopped reverberating. When we came out from our shelter, we saw that much had changed.

The Claw was always cold and snow and ice had always covered the land, but now it seemed even worse as if the winds themselves sought to strip our skin from our bones. The stars seemed duller but most obvious was the second moon sitting in the sky. It was larger than its sister and a sickly green. The wild men sounded different now, they were no longer chattering in the night. Some howled out in pain and agony but others seemed to be panicking and were coming closer.

It was an hour later that the first wild men came across our camp. I recognised one as a hunter from the group I met before. He looked at us and the Itar before calling to his fellows. They came near to the fire pit and glancing quickly at us again he reached towards the fire. "No! You'll hurt yourself." Lira gripped his arm and he leapt backwards. He looked at us with fear in his eyes.

I reached for some meat and offered it to him. "For you." I pointed from the meat to him. He took it tentatively and when there was no apparent consequence split it amongst some of those with him. The group began to sit around the fire keeping a careful watch over us as they warmed themselves. I looked over at Lira and she shrugged back to me. Perhaps these people were skilled and might teach us to survive better in their frozen homelands.

We went back to the shelter, the Itar were standing watch over the new visitors whilst also maintaining guard to make sure the Darkness didn't come across us. Peering out at the small group that had fled, whatever it was that they had fled, I counted three distinct families. The hunter had a daughter and perhaps wife or lover, I did not know how the wild men arranged themselves, were they like the Itar or the people of Albion? The other families were larger, a man with dark brown hair had two sons and his wife whilst the largest family was an elderly man with several children. Some were young but several were at least as old as I was. From where I was stood I could feel the elderly man's magic swirling wildly. He had never been taught to master it, and now that the Darkness had come, it seemed to be entirely out of his control but at least relatively harmless. I imagined this was how he had lived so long in this harsh landscape.

When dawn rose again, the storms above had lessened. The wild men had slept about the dying fire and were beginning to wake. The hunter came towards me, knife drawn. An Itar stepped forwards to stop him but the hunter cut his own palm, holding it up towards us. He held out the handle of the knife. I looked over to Lira and she nodded, ready to save me should something happen. I cut the palm of my hand and clasped his hand in mine. The symbolism meant more to him than me as a tear tracked down his cheek.

This clan of wild men had become a part of our small village. Over the next week, they proved useful in bringing in food and teaching Lira which plants could be used to make cloth. It would take a long time but by the end of that week, we had begun to learn some of each other's tongue. It was a more calm time despite the lingering presence of the Darkness, that is until we finally came across their previous fellows.


	6. Chapter 6

The Ogham had been finished for three days before we decided to pack away camp and begin our travels across the world. We had sailed to the Claw from the west so we chose to walk eastwards. The Itar hauled the wooden huts behind them on large wooden wheels that had been screwed into the sides.

The clansmen came with us, the children had picked up the druid tongue of Albion rather quickly, far more so than I had learnt their coarse language. They did not serve the Ancient Spirits, it seemed as if the Ancient Spirits had not made these people, as if they were descended from older beings. Whilst neither my understanding of their language nor the elderly magician's understanding of ours was deep enough for a substantial discussion we tried to learn about the sources of one another's magics. I wanted to learn about the gods that these people worshipped. Lira and I had watched them at prayer in the evenings, some days they danced about the fire calling out to the sky, other days they were silent contemplating the river as it ran past us.

Despite earlier fears, the drake that dwelt to the north-west proved to be less aggressive than I had thought it might. We only saw it once and at that time it had been eating a smallish mammoth. Mammoth herds were not uncommon in the small area that I had ranged with the Itar. The Wildmen clan that lived with us seemed to roam further on their hunts.

Having set off to eastbound, we found the going slow. The huts were difficult to move through the thick woods of elder pine. By nightfall, we had only managed to climb into a pass at one edge of the valley we had landed in. It took an hour to lower the huts from their wheels. The Wildmen made a large firepit and we all settled down for the night.

It was that night that we first met the Beastmen. These creatures had been kith and kin to the wild men. Magics rippled across their skin and twisted horns reached out from their heads. Some of them were scarred with runes of ruin and destruction and Darkness. They came upon our camp in the night with the braying of asses and the sounding of hunting horns.

An Itar roared out a battle cry. I stirred from a light sleep in Lira's arms. We both rolled from our bed and put on the robes customary of Truthsayers. The long dark green robes came to just above the ankles and were marked with light blue runes. Many of them were the same as the dark blue woad runes that still lay upon our skin. Lira took up a bronze spear from beside the door and I found my staff, made of Albionic Oak.

Upon leaving our hut, we found several of the Wildmen with stone weapons fighting the Beastmen. Those Itar who weren't on guard that night had come out of their huts. Heavy wooden clubs and stone maces crushed many Beastmen in single swings.

Lira ran forwards, she leapt over the firepit and the flames swirled about her, attaching themselves to her spear. She then thrust forward into the mass of monsters unleashing a burst of fire deep into their ranks. Meanwhile, I stood beneath the silvery glow of the Pale Sister, her sickly green sibling was hidden, perhaps by clouds or perhaps it was yet to rise. I raised my staff to the sky and began to chant. I called down magic from the high winds, blowing away the rotten magic that clung to these Beastmen and drifted slowly in the air about me.

I could see the magic begin to take form as it blew down into the encampment. It swirled in a beautiful display of colour until at last vanishing down into the rock below the Beastmen. Then all at once, the ground beneath them blasted upwards into a cloud of dust, gravel and pebbles. Many of their number were caught in the explosion. The rest seemed to back off slightly, watching us, judging us.

The Itar roared together. The Beastmen fled back into the woods. I looked around, one of the male Itar had been pulled down by the Beastmen and his body was torn and broken. He was certainly not alive. Similarly, the elderly Wildman had lost a son to the Beastmen. He looked drained, himself. It was only now that I noticed the flock of ravens hovering above him. Their beaks bloodied and several of their forms twisted in the mud.

The ground was scorched all around us and Lira was breathing heavily. Her spear had tasted much blood during the battle. The crater that I had created was some twenty feet in diameter and encompassed over a dozen broken Beastmen corpses. I met Lira's gaze. If the Beastmen returned they would be in greater number. We would have to find another Ogham site and fortify ourselves whilst we built it. Perhaps if we were lucky there would be other families of Wildmen that had not followed their clans into becoming Beastmen.

The Itar helped me to haul their fallen brother into the camp. Whilst the Wildmen settled down for a restless night's sleep. Lira and I went on a search for dry firewood. By sunrise, we had enough wood to begin work on a pyre. Lira set to work building the pyre and I began to paint the body with runes as was the custom on Albion. Behind each shoulder, I marked the dream runes. Running down his chest I marked his name, each rune precise and crisp as it rested upon his torn body. Upon one temple I marked death, and upon the other I marked sleep. Then finally I marked the soles of his feet with joy and peace.

When I stood up from my work I found Lira had finished her work, the Wildmen seemed to have helped having awoken sometime after I began the runes. The elderly Wildman came forward and tried to put a black amulet on a leather cord over the Itar's head, before cutting the cord and resting the amulet against the Itar's chest. I smiled gently at the man as the Itar lifted the body onto the pyre.

On Albion, most funerals were presided over by a Truthsayer. I had only been to one funeral before, my father had died at work in the quarry, but I did not know that I was a Truthsayer then. At a funeral, everyone sang the farewell and as the Truthsayer sang, flames would rise from the pyre claiming the body. By the time the farewell was sung, all that was left was the blackened bones of the deceased. In those rare occasions that a Truthsayer was not available, the pyre was lit by hand by a relative.

We all stood around the fallen Itar. Lira and I took one another's hands and began the farewell. The Itar sang loudly, their voices booming out to the heavens and arousing the calls of creatures on the mountainsides about us in some sort of joint and unwitting mourning. The Wildmen danced as they were wont to do, some tried to sing along with us, the children especially. As the farewell reached its crescendo the flames roared forth. A great towering fire that reached above the nearby trees. It burnt just to stand so close, yet no one moved away, it was a small burden in remembrance of one who gave his life for us.

And then everything went still, the world was quiet, the pyre had burnt out. Huge black bones lay before us in a pile of ashes. Lira collected some of the bones up and began to carry them away into the forest. I took some of the rest and I saw an Itar pick up those we had left behind. It was the other male Itar that was without a mate. When we had walked some distance away from the camp, such that we couldn't hear the Wildmen as they returned to their daily business, we placed the bones in a circle on the ground.

We returned to the camp shortly thereafter. We would have to pick up the pace as we travelled east.


	7. Chapter 7

Six turns of the pale moon later and we had begun on our second Ogham. Considering that the last Ogham took several weeks to build, we began with fortifying our new home. We had chosen to settle upon a hill which the dense pine forest of the Claw had not itself colonised. The Itar had dug a ditch around the camp and piled the earth into some semblance of a wall around us. The Wildmen ranged out into the forest to hunt and I took Lira to search for suitable stones.

A fast river flowed an hour's walk to the north and around to the east then into the sea in the south. Looking out over the forest we could see the mountains that seemed to dog us along the length of our journey so far. Most importantly, the High Winds here were much stronger and flowed more steadily that they had done at any place since we left the first Ogham.

On our journey we had only clashed with Beastmen clans twice more, it was by luck rather than any real strategy that we had not lost anymore lives to battle. The journey had also furthered my understanding of the language of the Wildmen, it was rare that I came across a word I didn't know. Their children were rather excitable but their company was enjoyable enough. One of the Itar had even become pregnant. Lira feared the birth would be soon and since we had never before experienced a birth we were uncertain as to how to handle it. On Albion, there were healers trained in the care of babies and the younger infants but as neither of us had younger siblings, or indeed siblings at all, we had not crossed paths with them.

Lira and I returned late in the afternoon, after having found a glacier with several large rocks held within it. We might have returned a few hours earlier but had chosen to enjoy the time alone. It was difficult to find the time to enjoy ourselves privately when everyone was walking through the thick forests together. By the time we returned, dinner was roasting over a fire and the huts had had their wheels removed. The earthworks were tall enough that we couldn't see the roofs of the huts and the path through the ditch into the camp was narrow enough that only four or five persons could walk along it side by side.

We were wise to have fortified ourselves. Hunting horns sounded that night and shook us all awake. The Itar roared into the darkness as flames danced in the distance, growing brighter and nearer. The Wildmen mounted the earthworks with bows and spears whilst the Itar stood at the entrance to the camp. Lira gave me a quick kiss and ran forwards to stand with the Itar, her bronze spear glistened in the firelight as she began to sing and weave together the magics around her.

The old Wildman shaman danced about the fire as it grew larger and hotter. I climbed the embankments around the camp with the Wildmen and looked down on the Beastherd that surrounded us. It was far greater than the small clans that we had skirmished with previously.

A bright blue light broke out in the night above us. I glanced up to find that the green moon was gone tonight. Lira and I had been worried that it would not wane as the pale moon did but over time it had proven to finally become new. The blue light came closer and larger as it approached. The Beastmen maintained their distance, they were too far for the Wildmen to fire upon them and the Itar would much rather fight them on the narrow path than down on the slopes of the hill.

The world shook as the blue light roared overhead, it sped through the air and down the slope before crashing into the forest's edge. Beastmen were crushed under it and trees were uprooted by its force. Many of the creatures were flung high into the air and others were shaken to the ground by the impact. I could hear Lira panting softly nearby.

A cry broke out in the ranks of the Beastmen as a large figure walked forward through them. It was made of purple flesh with bright red runes carved into it. It was tall and slim, with elegant limbs and graceful curves to its body. It was certainly a female and well proportioned as well. Silky silver hair ran down its back and its naked form was entrancing. The Wildmen lowered their bows, some took some steps forward as if to throw themselves from the earthworks.

An Itar roared out in anger, I shook my head and wrenched my gaze away from the creature. The Wildmen seemed to also break free from the trance they had been in. Lira's bronze spear was embedded in the thigh of an Itar all alone halfway down the narrow path. Beastmen were already on the path. How had I not noticed their approach? By the time the first arrows were in the air, the lonely Itar was already in the thick of the Beastmen.

Lira was calling for that Itar to return to the entrance of the camp, where they could fight together, her spear having withdrawn to her hand once more. I raised my oaken staff and watched as dark green balls of light rushed forth, throwing Beastmen down into the ditch below. The shaman's own magic seemed to be working as well for bolts of thunder were striking deep into the Beastherd. Where Beastmen met Itar, huge swathes of blood and flesh were cast aside whilst stone clubs crushed bones into dust.

The battle seemed to be in our favour until an Itar cried out in pain. The lonely Itar further down the path was wrestling with the creature from earlier. Her tail was stabbing his back whilst her slender legs wrapped around his body. He fell to his knees whilst her claws scratched at his face. I watched as she kissed him passionately before he fell into the ditch. She turned towards the rest of the Itar and Lira.

A hand was raised and a sharp pink light raced forwards. Lira leapt forwards, striking the bolt with her spear tip and splitting it into two. Where the bolts struck the ground, mud and earth were thrown into the air. I thought I heard Lira growl as she spun about, striking several heads clear off of the shoulders of the Beastmen about her. My staff shook in my hands as flames arced through the air into the ranks of the Beastmen.

Arrows still rained down onto the path. Despite having lost an Itar, we were certainly still slaying them in great number. The creature came to where Lira was. She lashed out with her tail, Lira only just dodging the sharpened point. The two danced about each other, stabbing and slashing, neither gaining the upper hand. The Beastmen were unable to intervene in the duel, the creature had no issue with killing the Beastmen should they get between her and her quarry. My magics seemed useless against the creature, where I had been able to smite the Beastmen in their dozens with even simple spells, they only seemed to enrage the creature.

I slipped down the earthworks into the camp and ran to the pathway. I heard Lira cry out in pain as I slipped between the Itar. Lira had a deep bloody gash down one side of her body, her spear was on the grass below a limp arm hanging uselessly at her side. The creature gripped her head in a claw and looked up at me, she seemed to be grinning. I roared out in anger and threw my staff at the creature. Perhaps she wasn't expecting me to throw it as she didn't move to avoid it, or perhaps in my anger, I had released a burst of raw magic that trapped her in place but as the staff struck the creature, white flames burst forth in a great ball of heat. I had to turn away for fear of being blinded.

When the light died down, Lira stood over the creature, her spear held in her newly healed hands, its tip thrust into the creature's heart. The Beastmen cried out in fear and panic as they turned and ran, a final few being shot down as they went. I fell to my knees as I looked up at Lira. We would have to attend to the body of the fallen Itar, and we would need to discuss this new creature with the shaman and the other Wildmen.

I collapsed onto the grass, my strength spent and my body exhausted. Lira lifted me in her arms and carried me into the camp. One hand stroked my hair as she gently pressed her lips to my cheek. The magic had drawn away my energy. As she pulled off my robes and boots, I felt my tiredness overtake me. We would have time for everything else in the morning, for now, I needed nothing more than the surety that she was fine that the warmth of her body gave me, and the rest that her soft whispers gently guided me into.


	8. Chapter 8

The birth of an Itar was a messy affair, it was made no better by the fact that they seemed to be born in litters. Four babes each as large as toddlers were born on a huge bed of furs. It was already stained with blood, sweat and other fluids that had seeped out of the mother. Lira and the other women had taken the children to be washed and cleaned, having been fed at their mother's breasts. Three boys and a girl, thus far the Itar had gone nameless, they were few enough and varied enough that descriptions or pointing worked, but with newborn babes and two other pregnant mothers it would prove difficult to identify them all without names.

When the babes were brought back into the hut they had been born in, the shaman and I set to work marking them with various runes and symbols, these early months were the most dangerous for a babe and most died before they had seen two cycles of the seasons. On Albion, it was customary for a babe to be marked with runes to ward off early death and sickness in particular. Whilst these babes looked to be as healthy and as strong as any other, they had been in the womb far longer than usual. The mother had carried them for nearly a dozen turns of the pale moon. The sickly moon had become full twice during this time. If the other Itar took so long to birth their children then it would be another six months before any more children were born.

The fortified camp had withstood two more attacks, those purple-skinned creatures had led the attacks but we had not lost any more lives to their enticements. Lira was still worried by their effects upon the men that lived in the camp. Over time the camp had been improved, stones had been added to the earthworks and a simple wooden gate to the path. We would leave again soon, once the babes were able to make long journeys, but for now, the Ogham was finished and this place was as suitable a home as any other, more so than most places on the Claw. The Wildmen hadn't ranged this far east and knew nothing of the lands we would be travelling into. Lira wanted to follow the coast, the High Winds all seemed to blow from the south and into the north, blacker winds descended from the north with biting cold snows and rotting magic riding upon them. She hoped that the coast would turn to the south eventually. I was determined, however, that we should climb through the mountains and into the north-east. Surely, I told her, we should follow the High Winds. We know that they blow strongly in the south and so we should build Oghams in the north where they were more needed.

Naturally, the Wildmen favoured Lira's option, they would rather turn to warmer lands, the Beastmen were ever present here and they feared the black storms on the horizon, hovering over the mountains. In the end, I relented and the Wildmen began to scout out to the east looking for easy paths and wide routes that the huts could be pulled through. Lira rewarded my acquiescence quite passionately that night. Still, whispers filled my dreams.

A scream woke me. I jerked awake to see Lira's face above me, a damp cloth running over my face and body. I calmed and began to relax under her gentle ministrations and soft words of comfort. A night terror, ever since the sickly moon had first risen we had both succumbed to night terrors. They were always more frequent and worse when the sickly moon was fullest. Tonight, though, it had been new and I did not think this night terror had been sent by the Darkness as some of our dreams had been previously. I tried to remember the night terror but it seemed to turn to mist in my mind.

There had been a woman atop a flat mountain, she was bound by chains and surrounded by four men. One seemed to be built like an Itar, perhaps he was even larger, he was bloodied, cut and bruised, square markings dotted his body as sharp metal points stuck out from under his skin. Another was much slimmer, he was not as muscular as the first man, he bore black wings of neat feathers from behind his shoulders that reached out far around him, he had a third eye in the centre of his forehead that seemed to glow with a dark blue light. The third man was bloated, lesions marred his body and poxes dotted his skin. Burst buboes leaked pus onto the stone beneath him as blood flowed freely, blackened and bitty from rot and infection. He drooled a creamy flood from his mouth and his head was host to damp and dirty fur, some of it had begun to peel off. The last man was of the most interest though. He couldn't be definitely defined as a man for he had breasts on his front and his figure was rather feminine. He lacked any clothing and his purple skin was obvious. He too had wings, although not as large as the other man's wings they seemed to hold some sort of beauty to them. The man had a long and winding tail that came to a sharpened point behind him and when I saw his face it was as if I was looking at true beauty. This man looked much the same as those she-creatures that led the Beastmen. The dream had continued, silent and uncertain until eventually, the woman had screamed loudly. She raised her hand and suddenly the black storms above turned grey and thunder shook the dream. As thunderbolts struck the flat mountain I was flown down from the mountain, I had followed rivers and danced between the trees until eventually returning to my body and awakening.

As I described the dream to Lira she looked worried. This dream was definitely different from any of those we had seen before. We decided that those men must have been Dark Spirits, and so the she-creatures were the servants of the purple-skinned Dark Spirit. I thought that I had returned to my body from the east, so we agreed that as we travelled east we would look for a flat-topped mountain. It was very unlikely that we would ever come across the woman before the Dark Spirits had killed her. We both thought she was an Ancient Spirit that had not escaped the Darkness in time.

The next morning we named the Itar, the newborn girl was named Torita. In the Druid tongue of Albion, Torita was the name for the Lady of Storms. Whilst we could not save the Ancient Spirit that had been captured by the Darkness, we would honour her and her last battle, in the naming of the first Itar girl to ever be born.


	9. Chapter 9

We were being watched as we walked. Despite the fact that the blizzard around us had only stilled twice in as many days, they were definitely watching us. We had not moved far over those two days either. The Wildmen seemed to be struggling in the blizzard as much as the rest of us, even with their many years here on the frozen Claw. We had left our village a week ago and passed through a narrow mountain pass the first day of travel. That was when we first noticed them. Lira had seen them first, she rushed forwards to me and pointed high on the cliff face. From that distance, it had been hard to make out the small men from the rocks around them. They seemed almost like children from so far, but for their thick beards.

Now, every time we were anywhere within sight of a mountain there was that sense of being watched. If we looked for long enough we'd see a group of these bearded men higher up the mountainsides. They had made no attempt to halt us or harm us as we passed through their mountains for which we were thankful. They weren't the only ones watching us. The she-creatures that served the Dark Spirits were following us with a herd of Beastmen. This blizzard was threatening to trap us too close to their deadly reach. Without the aid of our simple fortifications, we would surely be slaughtered in open battle.

The young Itar were coping well with the journey, whilst they weren't capable of the same heavy labour as their elders, they were persistent and much stronger than the young Wildmen. Several new little Wildmen children wandered about their clan constantly getting underfoot. I looked across at Lira, she was looking thoughtfully up at another group of bearded men, these ones were sat about a fire. She was already beginning to swell with child. It was not very noticeable but I had watched her looking at herself in a frozen stream, running her hand over the bump. We had not discussed naming our child, nor our worries about bringing a child into the world together, especially at this time. Truthsayers did not usually have children, it was not unheard of but rare. Even more so with other Truthsayers. I feared that the rotten magic that had fallen from the High Winds might affect the birth or even the child.

Whilst we might have eventually grown used to the black rot that marred the landscape and suffocated our skins, the child would be born into this scarred world. It would be born to parents skilled in the magical arts and that in and of itself was dangerous enough. No one knew how exactly magic affected the babe in the womb, but amongst those Truthsayers who did have children, infant mortality was high. Tonight the sickly moon would be full again. I turned my gaze up the cliffs towards the small group of bearded men.

Night fell, the sickly moon rose full and horns sounded in the distance. The Itar did not sleep tonight. We knew the Beastmen were close and the she-creatures were closer. Lira sat with me next to the cliff face that provided the only real relief from the blizzard. All the huts had been put up against the rough stone and the Wildmen had put their children to bed. We all gazed out into the snow-washed air together, gripping weapons as we waited for battle to come to us. It took many hours of waiting but the sickly moon reached its zenith and she-creatures descended upon us.

Where those we had first encountered were sleek, beautiful and feminine these ones were feathered with long claws in the place of the slender hands. Their faces were shaped by fury and fangs threatened death. The creatures swooped down through the wintery winds, grabbing a hold of the Wildmen shaman. They began to slash at him as we rushed to his aid. They were certainly numerous. Their screeching echoed off of the mountains, some screeching in excitement and others in pain as Itar struck down many in flight. Rough, unshaped stone clubs crushed and broke the she-creatures as they flew out of the white.

When at last the Wildmen shaman was freed from the grip of the she-creatures his clothing was terribly torn and his face mangled and bleeding. His whole form was bloodied and cut. I turned back to the blizzard, I could feel Lira gripping the High Winds, drawing magic from it and shaping it. And then the blizzard retreated, perhaps only ten paces, but it was enough for the Wildmen to release a volley of arrows into the she-creatures before they could reach the rank of Itar. I gasped as I saw the swirling winds around us. Mixed in amongst the magics that Lira was controlling were black winds of rotten magic seemed to bolster the storm. It tore at Lira's magic damaging her spell and bringing the blizzard ever closer.

More horns sounded as Beastmen, at last, began to loom out of the storm. I gripped my Albionic oak staff tighter as I swung forward, striking down an arc of the Beastmen. Arrows continued to fly overhead, as the Itar swung at the flock of she-creatures. Lira screamed out and collapsed to her knees as the black wind touched her. It immediately danced back away from her. Perhaps the scream had driven it back, or perhaps the woad runes of the Ancient Spirits, still marking our skin, protected her. Regardless of the reason, the storm began to quieten and the black winds dissipated. The she-creatures seemed to recognise that they were no longer afforded their freezing cold hiding place and began to draw back as well. The Beastmen were not so deterred. They pressed down upon me, the Itar and those Wildmen that were stood beside me with spear and club in hand.

We fought valiantly in the dark of the night, Lira was at my shoulder, bronze spear in hand before dancing away to my right into their ranks. I found myself many bodies deep in the horde. Smouldering Beastmen lay about me as others had been thrown away, twisted and broken. The sickly moon finally began to set. Alas, it was not soon enough. The Beastmen were too numerous.

I found myself on my front on the hard, cold ground as cudgels struck at me. A hoof broke the bones in my left arm, a large stone, the bones in my right leg. Screams broke out somewhere behind where I had been stood. Just before I was struck in the head and all faded into blackness, the world shook and an explosion sounded.


	10. Chapter 10

"Let him rest." A deep, rugged voice seemed to echo about me. I was sore enough that I could feel the voice shaking my bones. A tiredness enveloped me and the pain was still fresh throughout my body. I did not have the strength to rise.

"When will he awake?" Lira's softer tones were enough to excite me, she must have survived the attack! How long had I been out for though? She certainly sounded worried.

"Soon child, soon." Blackness took me again.

When I next stirred, I was upon a cliff edge gazing down into a canyon. "You should be dead." A silky voice spun me around. The beautiful Dark Spirit stood before me. It came closer. "Most mere men would have been slain by your injuries. Even now I can feel that there is a difference to you. And to her also." He waved a hand down into the canyon. Lira was bound by chains in the depths. The birdlike Dark Spirit stood about her, black magics lashing away at her body.

I watched as flesh was peeled away, only for it to regrow and be peeled away again. Bones snapped and screams rang out. My pulse quickened and fire burnt through my veins. My fist lashed out at the Dark Spirit beside me. It laughed as my hand went through it like it was only mist. "You can not act here." It chuckled gently. "No, only a God can stop Tzeentch from his game. I could do it." It smiled at me, its tail brushing against me seemingly by habit. "For a price of course."

"A price? I would pay my life for hers!" It smiled wider and laughed derisively.

"No, your life is not what I need. I want to know the source of power that resides within you. How is it that you live? How is it that my very presence has not driven you to madness?" It watched me expectantly. As I hesitated more screams echoed up out of the canyon. In the distance, roars rang out and the edge of the canyon seemed to twist into a gaping maw.

 _"Help him! Please! What's happening to him?"_ I span around. Lira? Her voice had been very worried, but wasn't she down in the canyon?

"Get out of the way child." The rougher voice from earlier! What was going on? The Dark Spirit gripped me tightly, it shook me.

"Have we a pact? I shall save her from Tzeentch and you shall grant me your strength?" Its face was beginning to blur. Lira's screams echoed up out of the canyon again. I shook my head to focus myself and it roared out in anger. Its hand seemed to shift into a claw. It struck me across the side of my face leaving a deep and bloody cut. I fell back almost slipping into the canyon. Loose stones broke away under my weight and bounced down the rocky cliff face. It took a step closer and its sharpened tail was set to strike when the toothy canyon opening slammed shut, rocking the world.

I gasped awake. I did not have the strength to force myself up. I could feel the deep claw marks on my face, the sticky blood running down my cheek. I couldn't see, there was just a blurred grey mess above me with some sort of glow emanating from away from my vision. A tear slipped out of my eye, I hadn't saved Lira despite my promise to her. I wasn't even strong enough to weep for her properly.

"Ardri!" Even now her gentle voice sang to my heart. A wetness pressed on my forehead. A smaller wetness, upon my unmarred cheek. "Ardri, please."

"I'm sorry." I barely open my mouth, the whisper comes out hoarse and barely more than a moan.

"Nonsense Ardri, you've nothing to be sorry for. Are you hurting? How did this happen?" I shook my head, she didn't understand, how could she? She was surely dead by now. The back of a small hand struck my cheek, blood spitting away from the gashes as it drew back.

"Get a grip of yourself boy!" I blinked twice, the stone ceiling of the room coming into focus. "Your lass is right here, I haven't been able to get her to leave the room since you got dragged in here, more dead than not." I tilted my head as far as it would go. Reddened hair stood next to the bed that I lay in, he sounded almost approving.

"Who...?" I trailed off my question. The words felt wrong in my mouth as if my mouth had been frozen in some part. Had he said that Lira was alive? I rolled my head to the other side. The movement was too fast and my neck clicked as a pain shot through me. I could turn my head no further, but I had turned enough. Lira's face swam into view as a wet cloth wiped away blood from the side of my head.

"Who am I?" The man chuckled. "My name is Grimnir, I'm an ancestor to the Dawi people but I hear your kin call mine the Ancient Spirits." He patted my shoulder roughly. "And I'm the one who saved your lives from those Dum".


	11. Chapter 11

I limped out into the wide open cavern that was just beyond the door that had kept me captive for a fortnight. Lira's grip on my shoulder gently guided me along the hewn floor, she had only left the small room twice during my waking hours, even in spite of my growing frustration at being bedridden. She seemed to find it quite amusing that I was so helpless, feeding me as if I was a babe, she said that it was all practice for when she was a mother and I couldn't quite bring myself to fight her off.

The cavern was massive, the Itar could stand on one another's shoulders and perhaps it would take three to reach the ceiling. Metal lamps hung down from above and runes were carved into every door. A ring of drake bones rimmed the room at about head height. Crystals shone in the depths of the cavern and above doorways, emulating the stars above ground. Grimnir had told us that this place was Kraka Drak, the Drake Hold, home to the Great King of the Northern Dawi.

He had come from the south and the wealthy Dawi fortresses of Karaz Ankor to put an end to the Dark Spirits beyond the north. After finally being released from my bed, I was going to check up on the rest of our party. Lira had told me that there were other clans of Wildmen here that had also fled the Beastmen that used to be their kinsmen. In total something like three hundred Wildmen had found sanctuary in the buried halls of Kraka Drak.

After I had been knocked unconscious by the Beastmen, Lira and the others had been rescued by the Dawi. The cliff face behind us had been exploded open and a stream of warriors had marched out of the opening. Supposedly we had been near to a now empty mine shaft and the sounds of our battle had echoed into the mountains.

The Dawi and Grimnir had been a fountain of knowledge as to the wider world and the Dark Spirits. There were four of them and the Dawi called them Dum. At the very north and south of the world were two great gates that the Ancient Spirits had used to travel from world to world, but the Dark Spirits had destroyed them and used them to escape the realm of magic and enter the mortal realm. Grimnir intended to go to the northern gate and seal it.

On his journey north, Grimnir had come across a member of a more Western race, he had called himself Caledor and was an Asur. The Asur were supposedly the students of Ancient Spirits on a great island far to the west of Albion. Caledor had described to Grimnir a pact between the primordial dragons and the Asur. When Grimnir told us of this, I told him about how Lord Obmus had advised that we should align ourselves with the primordial races that had dwelt upon the world before the coming of the Ancient Spirits. Grimnir had not been very approving of this idea.

Caledor had also described to Grimnir that the Gate at the southern pole had somehow sealed on its own, a powerful magic had gripped the frozen structure and collapsed it into the ice. Now Caledor was travelling the world in search of knowledge to banish the creatures that belonged in the realm of magic back to their homeland.

It would be another turn of the pale moon before Grimnir left for the north. He wanted to leave when the sickly moon was new, he claimed the power of Dum was linked to that moon in some fashion. He had also forbidden us from accompanying him, even the Dawi were instructed to remain behind. Only a God, Grimnir had said, would be able to survive entrance to the wastes now ruled by Dum.

When we came upon the part of the hold where the Wildmen were being kept, we saw a great number of hide tents and small fires. The various clans had all grouped together it seemed. Heavily armoured Dawi with crossbows looked down on the gathering from stone ledges high above the less than luxurious cavern. The Itar marked where our clan of Wildmen had made camp, the wooden huts abandoned to the blizzards as they could not be brought up through the mine shafts.

The shaman was not amongst them, nor were two children and the hunter's wife. It would appear I was luckier to be alive than I realised. Lira's grip on my shoulder tightened slightly. I smiled gently at her, her protectiveness was an appreciable trait in this dangerous time. We all sat down together around a fire and began to discuss our plans for the future. They could all stay here if they wished to, I had no intentions of forcing anyone back out into the frozen battle against the Dark Spirits.

Shortly after Grimnir left I would depart with whoever chose to accompany me. I would follow the advice of Lord Obmus and the example of Caledor and the Dragons of the west. Lira and I would climb the mountains to the northeast and see if we could bring any primordial beings to our side in this war. Naturally, the Itar were vocal in their desire to climb with us, but the hunter and his children chose to remain behind. The rest of the Wildmen would join us. One of the Shaman's daughters had discovered some control over magic during the battle in the blizzard, her magic bringing down one of the flying she-creatures as it turned into metal. She hoped that she would learn to control her magic better from us than if left to the seemingly unmagical Dawi.


End file.
